By Michael Tobias
As the world continues to reel from the coronavirus pandemic that reared its ugly head in China in December 2019, millions of health professionals and hundreds of organizations from more than 90 different countries are rallying in support of a healthy recovery from COVID-19.
More than 350 organizations that represent over 40 million health professionals, including more than 4,500 individual professionals from all over the world recently signed a letter that was delivered to the international G20 forum. The organizations included the World Medical Association, the International Council of Nurses, the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA), the World Federation of Public Health Associations, and the International Society of Doctors for the Environment, ISDE International, as well as a plethora of medical, nurses, doctors, physicians, and other relevant bodies.
This coincided with the World Health Organisation’s Manifesto for a healthy and green recovery from the virus.
One of the primary issues voiced in both the health professionals’ letter and the WHO manifesto was air pollution that kills millions of people worldwide every year.
While the G20 forum is in a position to promote whatever needs to be done to ensure there is a healthy recovery that will, in turn, guarantee a healthy economy, it is not just the economic sector that will play a role. Everybody has a vital role to play including the doctors, nurses, and other health professionals that signed the letter, as well as other professionals including engineers that specialize in heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC), which ensure decent air quality, and those who can certify building energy code compliance.
Health Professionals’ Letter in Support of a Healthy Recovery From Covid-19
Health professionals worldwide are united in the need for a practical, down-to-earth approach that is science-based and can be used to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. They are also united in the need for a healthy recovery from this global crisis.
The letter indicates what health professionals have witnessed as a community during the ongoing pandemic:
- The fragility of communities when freedom, food security, and health are “interrupted by a common threat.”
- The magnification of enormous problems caused by inequality combined with worldwide underinvestment in publish health systems.
- Disease, death, and mental distress that hasn’t been witnessed for decades.
The letter stresses that these traumatic effects could have been mitigated, at least in part, or perhaps even prevented, if there had been a better investment in preparedness for a pandemic of this nature, along with environmental and public health stewardship. This didn’t happen, which was a mistake that we need to learn from so that we can return healthier, more resilient, and stronger.
Air pollution is targeted in the health professionals’ call for a healthy recovery from COVID-19 because, as they state, it was already weakening our bodies.
The primary sources of air pollution quoted are:
- Traffic emissions
- Inefficient use of energy for cooking and heating at home
- Power plants that are fired by coal
- Various agricultural practices
- Burning of solid waste
The threats listed are:
- Pneumonia
- Lung cancer
- Heart disease and strokes
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Asthma
- Low birth weight if pregnant moms are affected
What a Healthy Recovery From COVID-19 Means
The millions of health professionals who signed the G20 letter agree that to have a truly healthy recovery from this pandemic, pollution cannot be allowed to continue to “cloud” the water we drink and the air that we breathe.
A healthy recovery cannot allow climate change and deforestation to continue unabated because this will potentially unleash new health threats that will affect vulnerable populations globally.
In healthy economies and civil societies:
- Vulnerable people are looked after
- Those who want and need work have access to jobs that pay well without degrading nature and exacerbating pollution
- Our skies and rivers are clean and protected
- Cities give priority to public transport, cyclists, and pedestrians
Ultimately, they say that when societies are healthy, nature will thrive and our bodies will be more resilient to infectious diseases. People won’t be thrust into poverty because they cannot afford the costs of healthcare.
But, to achieve a healthy economy, the health professionals say, we have to use not just smarter incentives, but also disincentives. This is where governments come in. The call is for them to make major reforms that will cut fossil fuel subsidies and force the majority to produce and use clean renewable energy. This will result in cleaner air and a massive reduction of climate emissions which will power an economic recovery estimated to be able to power global GDP gains of close to US$100 trillion by 2050.
The health professionals’ letter calls on input from chief medical officers and scientific advisors who are involved with economic stimulus packages. It also highlights the key sectors that include health care, agriculture, transport, and energy which all need to have health promotion and protection firmly entrenched.
Individuals and other professionals can also help. For example, engineers can identify failures in buildings that could increase the risks of infectious infections like COVID-19. Just optimizing ventilation systems and improving air purification systems can help add enormously to any endeavor that will help the process of a healthy recovery.
Let’s all do our bit.
Michael Tobias is the founder and principal of Nearby Engineers and New York Engineers, an Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Company in America. He leads a team of more than 30 mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection engineers from the company headquarters in New York City, and has led numerous projects in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, and California, as well as Singapore and Malaysia. He specializes in sustainable building technology and is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council.
